Using locally grown, seasonal vegetables was among the initiatives that have helped public sector caterers from across London win prestigious Good Food on the Public Plate awards.

The public sector serves more than a billion meals a year to school children, hospital patients and the state’s most vulnerable citizens.

The awards, presented by at London's City Hall by Rosie Boycott last week, chair of the London Food Board, went to 22 universities, hospitals and publicly funded bodies that have made great strides to make the food they serve more sustainable and better for the environment and animal welfare.

The winners have all made one or more significant changes - some, such as the London School of Economics have converted to composting food waste.

Liz Thomas the London School of Economics catering manager said: ‘In circumstances where there is constant pressure on cost reduction it would be easy to ignore sustainability, animal welfare and ethical sourcing…However we are committed to improving the lot of workers and animals in the food chain and reducing negative environmental impact”.

Good Food on the Public Plate, a project run by Sustain and funded by the Greater London Authority, has developed the awards to celebrate non-profitable organisations that are working hard to make sure that the meals they serve not only taste good and are value for money but are beneficial the environment.

Boycott said: “We have been hugely impressed by the appetite from organisations to make positive changes to their catering choices, moving us far away from the image of processed, bland and untasty canteen food. Collectively, public sector food budgets have the clout to catalyse significant improvements to food systems and the treatment of animals. Farms that are signed up to assurance schemes are at a distinct advantage when they tender for food contracts.